US-based Eagle Nuclear Energy has launched a full environmental baseline programme at its Aurora uranium project on the Oregon-Nevada border, ahead of a planned 27 000 ft drill campaign tied to a prefeasibility study (PFS).

The environmental baseline work will include hydrology, groundwater, wetlands, meteorology and cultural studies, to lay the groundwork for permitting and mine design as the company progresses a PFS.

“Initiating environmental baseline studies marks an important milestone in the responsible advancement of Aurora toward a PFS. These studies are designed to collect critical environmental data across multiple disciplines.

“Once collected, this data will support environmental-impact assessments, mine design optimisation and future permitting activities at Aurora,” Eagle Nuclear VP operations Vishal Gupta elaborates.

Eagle Nuclear is committed to developing Aurora in a manner that meets or exceeds regulatory standards and reflects best practices in environmental stewardship.

As part of the environmental baseline study work, Eagle Nuclear has tasked its lead permitting manager, SLR International Corporation, to procure a ten-m-high meteorological station, which will be installed by early June. This station will collect ambient weather data, including wind speed, wind direction, temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and solar radiation.

The data collected from the meteorological station will support air quality permitting and other related air quality studies at Aurora.

SLR has also initiated a detailed delineation of wetlands and other jurisdictional aquatic resources across the specific areas at Aurora where the upcoming PFS-related drill programme will be conducted.

In turn, Eagle Nuclear has asked archaeological consultancy Native-X to conduct cultural and archaeological baseline studies across the project area to identify and document any historical properties or cultural resources that may be present, which will help support early engagement with relevant agencies and Tribal Nations.

The Aurora deposit, with 32-million pounds of indicated resources and almost five-million pounds of inferred resources, is considered the largest conventional uranium deposit in the US.